Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.33% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 2.56% or 2.59 points to trade at 103.80 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 2.26% or 5.32 points to end at 240.88 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) was up 1.33% or 0.98 points to 74.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 1.11% or 0.58 points to trade at 51.52 in late trade. United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) declined 1.13% or 1.24 points to end at 108.44 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 1.02% or 0.99 points to 96.34.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) which rose 7.02% to 89.61, Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO) which was up 5.50% to settle at 58.17 and Under Armour Inc A (NYSE:UAA) which gained 2.14% to close at 32.96.
The worst performers were Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) which was down 10.49% to 91.29 in late trade, Express Scripts Holding Co (NASDAQ:ESRX) which lost 7.40% to settle at 70.24 and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) which was down 3.78% to 237.81 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc (NASDAQ:IDXG) which rose 279.60% to 0.9490, Sunshine Heart Inc (NASDAQ:SSH) which was up 171.43% to settle at 0.570 and Prism Technologies Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRZM) which gained 150.00% to close at 0.5000.
The worst performers were Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHIP) which was down 45.45% to 1.200 in late trade, Real Goods Solar Inc (NASDAQ:RGSE) which lost 38.24% to settle at 0.2285 and Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IMNP) which was down 35.29% to 0.1812 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1932 to 1246 and 60 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1714 rose and 804 declined, while 92 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.88% to 12.45.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.39% or 4.65 to $1172.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.15% or 1.07 to hit $50.84 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.72% or 0.91 to trade at $53.91 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.27% to 1.0618, while USD/JPY rose 0.18% to 113.97.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.81% at 101.09.